...and the gas station attendant would check the oil and wash your windows while filling the tank.

Psssst...That was me.....LOL

Back in the gas shortage of 1972...was working at a station that was short of gas.... Lady showed up with her Cadillac ......and says....."Fill it up with Premium."

"Sorry lady.... all we have in lo-lead and a $2 buck limit."She says, "Well...I"M MRS TRUSS and SUCH....and "I" HAVE TO GO SHOPPING ".

As she was holding up the line...I said, "Look,... Lady, do you want the $2 bucks worth or not......?"She said ..."Yes"

It's a good thing that as a child I liked to read, because waiting in those gas lines rewally sucked....waiting an hour to get your gas, and you had no choice because you could only get gas on certain days depending on whether your plate was "odd or even".

I remember our family used to swap plates on vehicles so that we could have an odd or even plate as needed. Sure, it was illegal...but you did what you had to do.

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If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.Ecclesiastes 10:10

I worked at the station during that time.....was kinda my first brush with the fact that everything wasn't just Dandy.....You got to see the ugliness come out on some people... when there is any kind of disruption in their lives...Was an eye opener.

Also the other lesson was simply...wasn't who you thought you were....It's who you know. We would bring in our and friends cars inside, and fill them up....Was mostly forgotten by many...but wasn't lost on me.

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Geezer Squad, Evoking the 50 year old rule..First 50 years, worried about the small stuff, second 50 years....Not so much

I remember back in the late '50s or early '60s one of the Shramm kids bought an imported English 3-speed commuter bike. None of us had ever seen one of those skinny-tired beasts before, but those Shramm boys could whip the crap out all the Schwinns and Huffys in town! We all feared being challenged by one of the Shramms to a race around block riding what became known to all of us as......."THAT ENGLISH RACING BIKE!"

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The only chance you got at a education is listenin' to me talk!Augustus McCrea.....Texas Ranger Lonesome Dove, TX

I recall my first three speed, skinny tire, bike. It was a dark maroon color and I thought it was as fast as the wind. The gears were inside the hub and you had a lever switch on the handle bar that pulled a small cable attached to a tiny chain that went inside the hub. It appeared fragile and it was. Lasted about two weeks. From then until my Dad got it fixed I had a really hard to peddle one speed. Must have been about 58 or 59 when I got it. It was broken more often than not.

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A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. (Mark Twain)

My first bike was given to me for Christmas by my grandparents. Grandpa died in 1958, so it had to be before that. I still remember seeing it for the first time on Christmas Eve.....after the obligatory Christmas Eve church service and a bowl or two of oyster stew. A brand new, emerald-green, 24" Schwinn Corvette with a front luggage rack, 2-speed Sturmey-Archer gear hub & chromed fenders!!

i remember in the early 70's the more well off kids hadschwinn 5speeds they had names like orange crate, cotton pickerand so on. today if you can find one there very spendy.13th b-day i got a huffy 26in roadster single speed peddle brake.but fast as heck.

I recall my first three speed, skinny tire, bike. It was a dark maroon color and I thought it was as fast as the wind. The gears were inside the hub and you had a lever switch on the handle bar that pulled a small cable attached to a tiny chain that went inside the hub. It appeared fragile and it was. Lasted about two weeks. From then until my Dad got it fixed I had a really hard to peddle one speed. Must have been about 58 or 59 when I got it. It was broken more often than not.

You...or the bike?

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The more I understand, the less I know. Pretty soon I'll understand everything, and know nothing.

Radio Flyer... not sure what I had, but it was a stake bed. I think that my dad intended that I be able to do some real work with a wagon.

Bicycles..the old coaster brakes would fade out after prolonged use. It is quite hilly in the farm country of NY, I was coming down a long hill and used up my brake, I went through the stop sign at the bottom of the hill at what seemed like around 35 mph, and was clear through town before I got stopped.

An aside from coaster brakes on bikes. The evolution of Mountainbiking began with a coupla "Dudes" racing downhill on dirt in Marin County Cali. They had 1 gear cruisers and the grease in their coaster brakes would heat up so bad they were smoking near the bottom. And had to repack their bearings for the next run. Hence the name of the race became "Repack". Never in a million years did I foresee what the sport could become

« Last Edit: May 17, 2017, 07:53:23 AM by madmax »

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"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving pretty with a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways in a cloud of smoke, thouroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, Wow! What a ride!" Hunter S, Thompson

When we were over in Hawaii there were bike tour outfits offering long coasting tours down Mount Haleakala. Basically, they'd haul a van full of tourists and a trailer-load of specialized bicycles to the summit and let everyone coast the 25 miles back to the base of the mountain. Those bikes had large comfortable seats (think Harley-Davidson) and HUGE no-fade, hydraulic disc-brakes installed on both wheels. Basically, a Valhalla situation for bicyclists.

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The only chance you got at a education is listenin' to me talk!Augustus McCrea.....Texas Ranger Lonesome Dove, TX

Not sure if it was the same tour but they made us wear these silver helmets. We did "Lost in Space" joles all the way down.

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"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving pretty with a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways in a cloud of smoke, thouroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, Wow! What a ride!" Hunter S, Thompson

I remember having the choice between regular and unleaded gas. Not having a microwave and when a 10 speed bike only had 10 speeds.

I worked at a Sunoco station right after high school, we had 240 premium, which was about as red as automatic transmission fluid. During a few weeks of summer, we got 260, which was racing fuel. We had to limit it sometimes as it went as fast as we could get it. Unleaded....what the heck is that? LMAO Oil came in round METAL cans, and you used a metal spout that pierced it to pour.

Dano....we used the Mobil cans with 'The Flying Red Horse' on the front, but you could go down the street to the Deep Rock station and buy quart glass Mason jars of bulk Blue Velvet with a reusable, tapered steel spout screwed on the top for about 1/2 of what the canned oil would cost. They kept full jars of it in a rack right by the gas pumps so the attendant could dump in a quart or two if it needed it when he checked under the hood as the tank filled with gas.

He always asked if you wanted your King Korn stamps. The Phillips 66 station gave out S&H Green Stamps.....Mom saved 'em both and traded with other ladies that needed the King Korns, but didn't want the S&H Greens. Life was different back then.....I enjoyed it.

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The only chance you got at a education is listenin' to me talk!Augustus McCrea.....Texas Ranger Lonesome Dove, TX

I remember the metal cans of course, that is the only way it came in the cities. I still have a metal spout for them somewhere in the shop. We had no stations that used the glass jars with the screw on spout but there were quite a few of them at the farm auctions twenty years ago or so. Don't see them at all these days. We had a bulk oil dispenser at one station that filled those 1 and 2 quart metal "pitchers" with the flexible metal spout. I still use those to put oil in the tractor when I change it or top it off.

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A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. (Mark Twain)

..... We had a bulk oil dispenser at one station that filled those 1 and 2 quart metal "pitchers" with the flexible metal spout. I still use those to put oil in the tractor when I change it or top it off.

You beat me to that one, Stan. If the attendant found you low on oil, he knew just how much to put in the pitcher from the 55 gal barrel in the service bay. The pitchers I remember didn't have that new-fangled flexible spout. The spout was a solid pipe, hinged at the bottom, and was folded down to drain the oil from the pitcher. I guess the proper name is "swingspout"

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The more I understand, the less I know. Pretty soon I'll understand everything, and know nothing.

My mom had several books of coupons from WWII. Most of the coupons were gone, of course. I think she threw them out in a move. Her Green Stamps she kept, of course. I licked so many Green Stamps for mom my tongue would stick to the roof of my mouth.

My mom had several books of coupons from WWII. Most of the coupons were gone, of course. I think she threw them out in a move. Her Green Stamps she kept, of course. I licked so many Green Stamps for mom my tongue would stick to the roof of my mouth.

I think all of us kids from that era were assigned that particular job, Quench.

Perfect emoticons for this post, don't you think?

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The only chance you got at a education is listenin' to me talk!Augustus McCrea.....Texas Ranger Lonesome Dove, TX

I remember when we upgraded from an icebox to a refrigerator, and then there was the improvement of a kerosene stove in the kitchen after the old wood stove.

Back in the early 50s I remember when my Dad bought a S&W .44 special, what a neat gun that was, I got to hold it and real the lettering on the side of the barrel, quite an event getting a new gun, then something strange happened, and the next time I got to look at that gun it no longer said .44 spl. it was .44 Magnum, there was no fan fare it just showed up, my mother none the wiser. I still have that gun it has a four digit serial number.

some of you guys have been around since moby dick was a guppy. I have some of those glass jar with the screw on spout and the oil can with the metal spout, they reside in the barn not being used.

Before my time but does this ring a bell? found it in my granddad's stuff

or this?

Oh, Oh....You are in big trouble there ......Young man....The stamp says............"Keep this stamp posted on vehicle"

I was a stamp collector for many years...always wanted the stamps off the mattress and furniture labels.Grandparents were afraid they would go to jail if I took them off..........Said "Do Remove under penalty of law".

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Geezer Squad, Evoking the 50 year old rule..First 50 years, worried about the small stuff, second 50 years....Not so much

I have some stamps from cuba too lol.. The other day I was under a old house built in the early 1930s. I found old pfieffers beer can under there. No pull tab or some such foolishness, it took a church key to pop a couple holes in the top. I have no doubt I was the first person under there since the place was built.

I am 51, born in 1966. I remember visiting my grandparents in colby ks, visiting the coast hardware store looking at all the buck and case knives in a standup display that was lined in red felt. Remember bazooka joe's bubble gum, Nehi soda, walking the the street with my bb gun on my way to the undeveloped land north of the house and a police officer would not have gave it a second look.

Drive in movies, Ben franklin's five and dime, green stamps, my dad's delta 88 oldsmobile, and having tang for breakfast. Most of the kids wore tuff-skin jeans from sears, rode banana seat bikes, and if they had a dollar they were rich. I remember being chased by golf course security after being caught fishing in the ponds after dark, the police that caught up with us were laughing and sent us home. I also remember when the police would take you home after catching you doing something wrong and then taking you to your parents, the whole time wishing you were going to kids detention, lol.

I remember when kids were allowed to be kids, today's children, especially those living in urban areas are being cheated.

Kids used to live outside in the summertime, now they live in their phones. When summer vacation started we would set up my grandfathers old umbrella tent, someplace on the farm and that is where I slept until school re opened. Sure made slipping away for those late night bike rides a lot easier. I had a little portable radio, it had tubes and a battery big enough to start a tractor. I strapped it to the luggage rack on my bike and had "tunes" while I was peddling through the night.

There was a Drive In movie, about 8 miles from the farm, sometimes I would ride cross lots, to get into the back row, lay my bike down in the weeds, no one ever went to the back row, pull a speaker down off the pedestal and enjoy the show.

Then there were the rides to the lake, the shortest route was six miles, down hill, no problem, but the back up hill ride after swimming all after noon was a bit more challenging, and then there were the chores to do when I got home..but what the heck we were kids..!

They were handy. but with no shield dangerous to carry with broad heads, they used to make a snap on shield, but I never got around to getting one. I still have a set they are on one of my recurve bows and I only carry blunts.

They were handy. but with no shield dangerous to carry with broad heads, they used to make a snap on shield, but I never got around to getting one. I still have a set they are on one of my recurve bows and I only carry blunts.

Had one.....I agree they were dangerous....The one I had (actually it was two) ...must and been cheap...rubber got hard...would break out the holder tabs, if you put arrow in or out too many times....

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Geezer Squad, Evoking the 50 year old rule..First 50 years, worried about the small stuff, second 50 years....Not so much

Mine are still functional, it gets a lot of use in the summertime, I carry four rubber blunts in the quiver, when the range stock start eying the grass in my horse pastures, I "thump" them with a rubber blunt. I make my own arrows that average 700 grains, the blunts weigh another 250. Out of a 55# recurve, that translates into a pretty good "thump"..

It also does a pretty good job of convincing bears that they do not need to hang around in my horse pastures.

They were handy. but with no shield dangerous to carry with broad heads, they used to make a snap on shield, but I never got around to getting one. I still have a set they are on one of my recurve bows and I only carry blunts.

Had one.....I agree they were dangerous....The one I had (actually it was two) ...must and been cheap...rubber got hard...would break out the holder tabs, if you put arrow in or out too many times....

I couldn't afford one of those fancy snap-on kind. My first bow quiver was made of rubber, and slid onto the limbs from either end. You had to remover the string to get the two pieces on. I can't even find a pic of one on the 'net now. Guess none of them survived the years.

When I got rich, I got one of these. I thought I was hot stuff with such a high-tech quiver!

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The more I understand, the less I know. Pretty soon I'll understand everything, and know nothing.

Those early Bear bow quivers were really about as good as it got. I used to watch old Fred Bear bow hunting films and ones by Howard Hill. There was a bit of animosity between Bear and Hill, not sure what that was about, to different degrees, they both had native American ancestry.

In my opinion the Hill films seemed to be a bit of "look what I can do".. And the Bear films were more like "look what you can do".. Just my impression..

I saw Howard Hill shoot when I was just a "sprout" in grade school. I already had a bow back then, and after the presentation, I started seriously practicing.

Kids used to live outside in the summertime, now they live in their phones. When summer vacation started we would set up my grandfathers old umbrella tent, someplace on the farm and that is where I slept until school re opened. Sure made slipping away for those late night bike rides a lot easier. I had a little portable radio, it had tubes and a battery big enough to start a tractor. I strapped it to the luggage rack on my bike and had "tunes" while I was peddling through the night.

There was a Drive In movie, about 8 miles from the farm, sometimes I would ride cross lots, to get into the back row, lay my bike down in the weeds, no one ever went to the back row, pull a speaker down off the pedestal and enjoy the show.

Then there were the rides to the lake, the shortest route was six miles, down hill, no problem, but the back up hill ride after swimming all after noon was a bit more challenging, and then there were the chores to do when I got home..but what the heck we were kids..!

We would ride our bikes down to the rio grande river, in my neighborhood was the silver dollar drive-in, we would sit on the wall to watch after one of us would jump down and turn up a speaker. We would fish and swim in the golf course ponds at night, get a bunch of balls and sell them for a quarter a piece, then use that money to buy burgers and sodas at the club house. We would collect tadpoles, lizards, and snakes and keep them in aquariums. The highlight of my summer as a kid was boy scout summer camp, i would spend weeks prepping for it. Building forts from acquired lumber we would "borrow" or were given, swimming at a friend's pool, exploring on bikes; we would come home, eat dinner, then head back outside. Me and the kid across the street would mow a couple of lawns make a quick five or ten dollars and be rich. Always had a pocket knife on me, i think most kids did have one.